Desire2Blog

I'll be in China for the next week, so I'm not sure whether I'll be able to post to the blog for the next week. I'll be trying to get around the Great Firewall, but you never know. I'll also be returning to the real Great Wall of China. This time I'm hoping for a clear day. Last year on this trip it was very foggy/smoggy and then we got hit by a huge rain/hailstorm. Still, it was a pretty amazing day. And no, this trip is not all about fun and games. We meet with many educational leaders at various universities as well as government and immigration officials. As usual, the itinerary is very packed with official business, but we do have a little bit of personal time as well.

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." If only I had a nickel for every time I've had to answer the following question: "How do you know that your on-line students are who they say they are?" This is a beautiful story . A young lady climbed in and out of a dorm room at Stanford University, attended classes, and pretty much looked like any other student at the prestigious U. Only one problem. She didn't register for classes, never was assigned the dorm room, never paid for tuition or fees, and is not a Stanford student at all. Yep, that whole on-line thing is VERY suspect. Of course, these two things are not quite the same. The Stanford imposter was never going to get a degree from the university since she wasn't ever admitted, and I suppose that someone could get an on-line degree while not really being who they say they are, or by having other people pose as them on-line. Yes, anything is possible in both the on-line world and the other ...

This Splashcast is a 10-minute presentation regarding the development to date of partnerships between Minnesota Online and the Vietnam Association of Community Colleges and also between MnOnline and Tra Vinh University in Vietnam.

Dr. Ruth Clark of Clark Training and Consulting will deliver the opening keynote address at the D2L User Conference this July in Duluth. Her keynote topic is "Learning Faster, Better" and is based on her recent book, Efficiency in Learning ( intro chapter ). She also has an even newer book titled "The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning." In this 12-minute interview she talks about her background and her current research, writings, and presentations.